HARPER'S New Monthly MAGAZINE; Volume LVII (57), Numbers CCCXXXVII, CCCXXXVIII, CCCXXXIX, CCCXL, CCCXLI, CCCXLII, (313, 314, 315, 316, 317, 318) June, July, August, September, October, November, 1878; Return of the Native (Hardy); Forests of California (Muir); MacLeod of Dare (Black); New England Dairy and Stock / Staten Island / Hospital Life (Rideing); Sea Islands (Bejamin); etc. by Henry Mills Alden, editor; Thomas Hardy, William Black, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Bret Harte, William H. Rideing, Alfred H. Guernsey, Porte Crayon, John Muir, Elizabeth W. Champney, Clara Francis Morse, John Esten Cooke, S.G.W. Benjamin, et al - 1878

New York, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1878. First Edition. Three-quarter leather over cloth. Very Good -. Single volume--six issues bound without covers and advertisements. Small quarto, 9 3/4" tall, 952 pages, three-quarter leather over black cloth. A very good minus, hard cover with general shelf wear, leather rubbed at the edges and chipping at top and bottom of spine, fore-corner tips worn through to boards; interior very good, clean hinges and binding solid, paper light to moderately yellowed. This is the publisher's edition, printed from the original plates and includes all of the editorial material (articles, stories, poetry, etc.) of the separate issues but lacks the advertisements and individual covers. It was the practice of the time for most of the better literary magazines to issue such editions before melting down the original printers' plates. Note: ''Harper's Magazine' began publication in 1850 and recreated the American magazine, serving as a promotional vehicle for Harper and Brothers books as well as the new 'literary' fiction and essay of the time, using sophisticated illustration and the best authors. Subject matters range from art, fiction, and poetry to history and science. As such it makes a terrific read as an anthology of its moment in time. An excellent resource.